No display, no beeps

[blyskyn]

Hello everyone. For some background information, I built my computer about 10 months ago. The original build worked fine, but I wanted to upgrade my case and heatsink. After setting everything up inside the new case, I wasn't getting fans to start for more than half a second; it turned out the motherboard was shorting out and died from touching the case.

I got a new motherboard, and have the standoffs in correctly and spacers between the heatsink backplate and the board itself. The computer is no longer shorting out somewhere; when I turn it on, it stays on. The case fans, CPU heatsink fan, video card fan, and PSU fan all continue running. However, I am getting no display or beeps from the tiny speaker I plugged into the board.

I have tried...
-Going through this post: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-perform-steps-posting-post-boot-video-problems
-Using only one stick of RAM, and in different RAM ports
-Using an older video card that does not require a PCI-E power plug
-Unplugging the reset button to prevent a possible loop of restarting


I don't know where to go from here, and I've look all over online. Any help would be appreciated!


Specs:
CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition
Mobo: ASRock 970 EXTREME3 AM3+ AMD 970
GPU: Zotac GeForce GTX 550 Ti
PSU: Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212
Case: Rosewill Challenger

 

[Hazle]

what's the exact model number of your RAM (i.e; F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL)? see if it's in this list;

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970%20Extreme3/?cat=Memory

i don't exactly see a compatible 8GB 1333/1066 mhz RAM from G.Skill in the list.

 

[blyskyn]

F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL, almost exactly the example you game. It's not on the list, but is that seriously all that the motherboard can use? I find it a bit ridiculous that even though the motherboard's RAM standard is DDR3 2100(OC) / 1866(OC) / 1800(OC) / 1600(OC) / 1333 / 1066 / 800, it can't handle specific sticks of DDR3 1333 RAM.

 

[Hazle]

i honestly wouldn't know their reasoning behind all this, i'll admit. not really into memory and it's full workings, but i've always thought that the only difference , if any at all among them, if all else is equal was just the heat spreaders which shouldn't be too big a deal. sadly, that wasn't the case, and people believe any memory rated at the clock rates specified on the motherboard alone will do just fine.

ranting aside, your choice for now is to maybe borrow a stick of RAM from a friend or elsewhere that's supported by the board. otherwise, you'll have to return it for a compatible RAM and hope that's the only problem you got.

 

[blyskyn]

Alright, I'll have to see if I can find someone with RAM I can borrow... Thanks for the information. Also, do you think the old motherboard (the one that died) could have taken the CPU with it? I read somewhere that it could be a CPU issue that prevents any beeping or display, and it seems like it would be the most reasonable explanation.

 

[Hazle]

i believe you're referring to the need of a motherboard BIOS update to accommodate for compatibility with newer released CPUs, which is true for most, but not all cases.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970%20Extreme3/?cat=CPU

according to this however, your CPU should be compatible with the motherboard by default, unless, and not to jinx it, one of them is defective.

as for your old motherboard, it should have been able to handle a PII x4 965BE if it was an AM3 socket, with maybe the need to update your BIOS if said motherboard came out before the 965BE was released.

outside of the motherboard or the CPU being defective, if it's still not powering up after using a compatible RAM, then it may be your PSU ESPECIALLY if the fans are not spinning. if you feel up to it, while you're waiting for the RAM, disconnect EVERY CONNECTORS and try this out;

http://www.corsair.com/en/blog/testing-your-corsair-power-supply

let me stress this out for you; BE VERY CAREFUL. read the instructions slowly, and TRIPLE check everything before you proceed to turn on the power. if you're feeling even slightly doubtful or scared, DO NOT RISK IT.

 

[Angrynerds]

Have you tried changing the position of the case speaker plug to the mother board? It's really easy to plug them in backwards. I have actually had my computer not work with memory in certain slots. Took everything apart to clean it once, when I reassembled it wouldn't work. Ended up reseating vid card and memory a couple times til it finally worked, that was after removing all unnecessary components like sound card, HD's, optical, Floppy. Computer will halt @ bios and complain if it can't find the HD.

 

[blyskyn]

Hazle: The motherboard shows that it's compatible with the Phenom II class of processors, and it has an AM3+ socket (which is backwards compatible with AM3 processors), so I don't believe they're incompatible. All the fans are spinning, and I can hear the disc drive and hard drive starting up, so the power supply appears to be fine; it handled everything in my original build with a lot of power to spare, so adding a couple case fans shouldn't be an issue.

Angrynerds: I tried using the case speaker both ways, in case it was upside down the first time, but still got no beeps. I've also tried moving the RAM around into different slots, and tried placing them in the slots specified by the manual, but had no luck with one/both sticks of RAM. Reseating the video card didn't help either; I tried another (older) card and put the GTX 550 back in, but got nothing from either of them, unfortunately.

Thanks for the ideas, though

 

[lourendo]

did you remember to plug in your 4 pin power to the motherboard?

 

[blyskyn]

It's 8 pins on this board, but yes, it was plugged in.